$650,000 can get you good home in NSW

What under $650,0000 will buy near Sydney: A Stockland home near Horsley, south-west of Wollongong.
AFR

by
Claire Stewart

Integrity, Aspiration, Serenity and Prosperity are not just mantras for how to live a successful life. They are one- and two-storey homes that can be configured with a land package in outer Sydney for less than $650,000.

As part of the NSW government’s budget, first-home buyers of new homes and apartments under that amount could knock just over $32,000 from their expenses, courtesy of government grants aimed at increasing demand for residential construction in the state.

The Aspiration offers a minimum of 287 square metres of living space and four bedrooms. And a home theatre. As well as a double garage. And three bathrooms. And a third lounge upstairs.

“Where we are, at Gregory Hills, that money for a house and land package gets you a lot," says DartWest Developments general manager David Taylor.

“There is a lot of bling on a $650,000 project home. You can get a really good single-story home on a 540 square metre lot for around $550,000. So the government’s threshold is really strong. It is just about perfect for the south-west".

Western Sydney is home to more than 10 per cent of Australia’s population and accounts for roughly a fifth of the country’s economic output.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

There, a two-storey, three- or four-bedroom home on 275 square metres of land with two bathrooms and a rental return of up to $580 a week will sell for about $585,000.

Mr Driscoll said while there was a time when western Sydney was a product of urban sprawl expanding from the CBD, the suburbs were now planned properly to exist as independent entities.

“There are some people who still travel down the M2 each morning, bless them, or who travel on the train network, but more often than not more people work locally and almost never go in to Sydney," Mr Driscoll said.

Frasers Property’s complex at Putney Hill, called Figtree, is about 13 kilometres west of the CBD on the Parramatta River, just around the corner from Ryde. Buyers can grab a 93 square metre, two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with separate storage and a car space for $630,000.

At Meriton’s EON development in Zetland, about four kilometres south of the CBD,, a two-bedroom apartment of about 75 to 85 square metres with two bathrooms and a balcony, but no car space will cost $600,000. A parking space will cost about $60,000 extra.

Stockland
chief executive
Mark Hunter
said the decision to double the first-home buyer grant for new homes was the type of targeted stimulus the residential market needed while it was at a cyclical low point and would help “close the gap between renting and buying".

Stockland is selling three-bed, two-bath houses with two car parks on 350 square metre blocks near Horsley, south-west of Wollongong, for just over $370,000. The homes have the latest sustainability mod-cons, meaning buyers can save on stamp duty and utility costs.